PJSC ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih (Dnipropetrovsk region) after blocking the receipt of raw materials from the territory temporarily uncontrolled by Ukraine has started purchases in the Russian Federation.

Girish Sardana, the head of the company's supply department, said in an interview with the Metalurg edition that basically the problems in 2017 concerned the supply of raw materials.

According to him, "in connection with the introduction of a ban on the purchase of raw materials in the ATO zone and high prices for coal and coke in the international market, we were forced to reorient to the Russian market."

"However, due to the sanctions imposed on certain transport companies, we faced a shortage of wagons needed for the delivery of raw materials from Russia. In spite of all the difficulties, the deliveries did not stop. Another problem was a lack of a sufficient number of wagons and locomotives on the part of Ukrzaliznytsia, which resulted in failures in the supply of limestone from the western part of Ukraine and, as a consequence, a decrease in the amount of supply of this raw material to the enterprise," the top manager stated.

At the same time, he noted the company worked at full capacity, which helped achieve a record level of steel production (equivalent) of 7 million tonnes.